Getting my shot

Got my first vaccine shot this week, the Pfizer-BioNtech variety. There were appointments up in Greensboro, so I drove there, no sweat. It was in a Walgreen's in a lower-wealth neighborhood, mostly African-Americans, it would seem.

In fact, I had the distinct impression, though I couldn't be sure, that there were more white people in that store than would be typical. Certainly the couple right in front of me were also from Chapel Hill. I heard them say it, but you could also just tell.

So I felt kind of bad that we -- the industrious fast-fingered lot, quick to pull out our cell phones and figure out where the shots were -- had swooped in and hoovered up the supply. One guy -- a Black guy in his 30s or 40s, was there picking up a prescription and asked about the shots. He was known to the pharmacy staff, and the woman who was taking care of him said: "Yeah, your girl Vandela has already been in here and gotten hers. You could be one of our 18" (I think they had a few extra). She then told him how to get the Walgreen's app on his phone (interestingly, she told him to go to the Play store, so she just assumed he had an Android phone -- like me). It was incredibly sweet.